Urquhart (; ) is a small village in Moray, Scotland. It is approximately east of Elgin, between the villages of Lhanbryde and Garmouth. Urquhart had a population of 420 (as of the 2001 Census). Barony of Urquhart history Mary Queen of Scots, the Dowager Queen of France, in 1561 rewarded her trusted friend, and most loyal supporter George Seton, 7th Lord Seton, with the stewardship of the estates of Pluscarden Priory and four years later, she gave the Priory to his son, her godson, Alexander Seton. During the troubled years that followed, the Setons lost possession, but they regained control in 1581 when Alexander was appointed Commendator. They subsequently retained it when, six years later, the monastery was dissolved and its rich lands, scattered across the southern plains of Moray Firth from the approaches to Castle Urquhart in the west to Urquhart-on-Spey in the east, were erected into a barony for him, providing him with the title of Urquhart when he became Lord of Session the following year. Subsequently, Lord Urquhart, 1st Baron of Urquhart was created Lord Fyvie in the Peerage of Scotland, and was later created Earl of Dunfermline. In 1605, he was appointed Lord Chancellor of Scotland, a post he held until his death in 1622. Since that time the feudal Barony of Urquhart has been passed by inheritance and through land acquisition many times. The current and 19th Baron of Urquhart is Robert A. Cromartie of Urquhart-on-Spey, FSA (Scot). Village of Urquhart history In farmland on the northern part of the village lies the a small but well-preserved stone circle near which flint and stone implements of neolithic age have been found, as well as some fine gold armlets. An important Bronze Age or early Iron Age hoard was found at Law Farm near Urquhart in the nineteenth century. Comprising a group of 36 or 37 gold ribbon torcs, the remaining 10 collars are now in the collections of the British Museum, the National Museum of Scotland and the Marischal Museum in Aberdeen. In 1125 David I, King of Scots, founded a priory, as a cell of the Benedictine Dunfermline Abbey, on low ground just to the ENE of the village. This was an attempt to 'introduce civilisation' to the local native population of Celts. However, in 1454 the Benedictine's abandoned Urquhart Priory, moving instead to Pluscarden Abbey, SW of Elgin, after the merger of the